“Good. Werewolf bites are nasty. They take months to heal, and leave a mark.” He pushed up the sleeve of his blood-splattered bowling shirt. Numerous half-moon bite scars criss-crossed his flesh. Apparently, this wasn’t Vlad’s first rodeo.
We were silent, and I digested what I had just witnessed, had been a part of. Behind me, Elise wept quietly but steadily. The smell of blood was strong in the air. The demoness within me had broken out of my mental cell block, especially at the sight of the Count. I let her be, not wanting to deal with her for now.
She had not approved of the fight. I could tell that immediately. She had not approved of me saving the girl or taking on the werewolves. She had been legitimately concerned for my safety, if only because she didn’t want to lose such a valuable host.
Gee, thanks, I thought. Now keep quiet.
The blood did not appeal to me. It smelled...tainted somehow. Strange, undesirable.
Vlad must have seen me sniffing and wrinkling my nose. He shook his head. “Stay away from werewolf blood. Their blood, like ours, is mixed with alchemical magic. Some would say dark magic. It would do more harm than good.”
Good to know, I thought. Which ruled out me sucking on Kingsley’s neck any time soon.
“You killed them,” I said.
“You killed them, too, Samantha.”
“But I thought...I thought they were your, I dunno, allies.”
“Low-level entities tend to favor werewolves, Sam.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, not all are as highly evolved as the entities within us. It means, some of these werewolves were barely journeymen in the dark arts. In fact, it’s safe to say that any werewolf who prefers feeding from the living is not very evolved, and they are often a problem. Your werewolf friend, on the other hand, is one of the oldest and most evolved of the lycans.”
“He prefers to feed on the dead,” I said.
“And so it is with others like him.”
“Other evolved werewolves?”
“Right. But there is another reason why I came to your aid, Samantha Moon.”
“Because you enjoy killing?”
“Perhaps. Or maybe I fancy you.”
“Did Dracula just say he fancies me?”
“He did,” said Vlad Tepes. “And now, apparently, he speaks in the third person.”
For some reason, I laughed. I never knew Dracula would have a sense of humor...or be heroic. Although his heroism wasn’t for altruistic reasons. There was a reason for his noble act...and it was because, well, he fancied me.
Unbelievable.
“And, of course, the entity within me more than fancies the entity within you. They were great lovers once, Samantha. They have been lost without each other, until now.”
“Well, that’s not my problem, and I know where you’re going with this...and it’s never going to happen. Ever.”
Dracula smiled and nodded once. “Nor would I push you to do something that you don’t want to do. But perhaps, someday, I can convince you otherwise.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” I said, although that took on a completely different meaning to creatures who didn’t breathe.
The Impaler surveyed the surroundings and spied the weeping woman. “You did all of this to save her?”
“Yes.”
“You would have died, Samantha Moon.”
“Maybe,” I said.
He shrugged once and looked again at the woman. I saw a brief flicker of hunger appear in his eyes.
“Don’t even fucking think about it,” I said.
“I would never take your spoils—”
“She’s not my spoils. She’s a living, breathing woman that I have every intention of returning safely to her husband.”
“Very well, Samantha Moon. Then perhaps this is where I should leave you—”
“Wait!” I said.
He looked at me, tilting his head slightly. He waited.
I said, “How do you keep finding me?”
“Don’t you know, Sam?”
“Know what?”
“The entity within me is deeply connected to the entity within you. I can always find you. Always. Just as you can always find me.”
“So that was you,” I said. “In the sky...the dragon.”
He winked...and disappeared.
With a pop.
Chapter Forty-four
I wasn’t sure this would work, but I tried it anyway. I figured if I could teleport—or apparate—with my clothes on and holding a weapon, I figured I could do the same with Elise.
So, I had her hold me tight around the wrist, then summoned the single flame, and finally envisioned the main highway into town, where there was a sign welcoming tourists. I envisioned the spot just behind the sign.
The pop came again...and it worked much better than I had hoped. When I opened my eyes again, Elise was still holding me tightly, and now we were standing in the shadows of the sign, just a few hundred feet from the town of Arrowhead.
Next, I slipped inside Elise’s mind and removed all her memories of the night. I replaced them with a suggestion that she had been lost for the better part of this day. I told her to count to ten before opening her eyes again, and to head straight into town. I told her to give her marriage another chance and reminded her that her husband loved her deeply.
And then, I was out of her mind and, shortly, amazingly, I teleported myself back inside my minivan, in Gunther’s driveway, not entirely sure I hadn’t dreamed all of this.
I started the van and drove home.
* * *
I headed straight to my sister’s and gathered up my kids.
I bought two Hot N’ Ready pizzas at Little Caesar’s on the way home. One for Anthony and one for Tammy and myself.
Once home, I told them they could watch whatever they wanted, just so long as we watched it together. They looked at me funny. Then again, they usually did.
Tammy’s hangover was mostly gone, and if I ever thought the words “Tammy’s hangover” again, I was going to cry.
In fact, I did cry. With my kids on either side of me, both munching on pizza and with the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie on Netflix, I cried quietly, holding both of their hands, and not releasing them.
Tammy looked at me at some point, obviously wondering what had gotten into her mother, then her eyes widened in horror at what she must have seen in my thoughts. I shook my head slightly and motioned toward the TV.
She set her pizza slice down and curled up next to me, holding my hand tightly.
We would deal with her drinking later. But we would deal with it with love. All the love I have...and then some.